Yet another solid HP laser, but it’s beaten by ?rivals in virtually every key area.

A compact workgroup laser suited to high-volume colour and mono printing, but delivering average photo quality

Fast colour output, great network tools and reasonable print quality

Top-notch print quality makes this a contender, but it isn’t fast

It isn’t cheap, but plenty of features and top quality propel this printer to the top of the pile

A workgroup printing workhorse that delivers classy mono and colour print quality.

A workgroup laser with a good turn of speed and low running costs, but we expect better quality at this price.

The C5600n handles colour-related tasks well and at a price that makes it affordable for small businesses.

The LBP-2410’s real strength clearly lay in its speed, as opposed to its print quality. It was the third fastest printer overall, but fell in the shadow of the Labs Winner OKI C5100 for printing times and TCO over both low and high monthly duty cycles.

One of the largest form factor printers in our roundup, HP’s Colour LaserJet 1500L has a giant footprint. Although not unattractive, with a purple ramp-like front cover, be prepared to sacrifice a reasonably sized piece of office real estate for this printer.

The second most expensive printer to purchase, Epson’s C900 outlay cost is quite high given its fairly low quality results; as a consequence, this printer’s value rating suffers. Saving face, it managed to finish fourth overall for the speed portion of our testing. Surprisingly, for a printer of this cost, it is another unit to lack integrated network connectivity, although it is available as an expansion option.

Clearly finishing first in the colour laser category, the C5100 is the pinnacle of affordable laser printing. Big and bulky, it doesn’t have a small footprint though, so be prepared to give up some of your workspace for it.

Mono laser printer

As most of the devices we tested consisted of inkjet units, we were interested to see how the laser printer in the MFC-4600 stacked up. Relatively lacking in features, the MFC-4600 is geared toward productivity, performing well in our speed tests.

Youll have to excuse the pun, but the MFC-9200c is far and away the big brother to the MFC-4600. There is no comparison in terms of size, and it efficiently uses that space to provide more features than its competition.

Samsungs new entry into the laser printer market isnt as intimidating as its rough exterior looks.